


This Will End

by RisingShadows



Category: 1917 (Movie 2019)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, M/M, Tom Blake Lives, they in love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-23
Updated: 2020-03-23
Packaged: 2021-02-28 23:35:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,089
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23285608
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RisingShadows/pseuds/RisingShadows
Summary: The war ends, the boys go home.
Relationships: Tom Blake & William Schofield, Tom Blake/William Schofield
Comments: 7
Kudos: 80





	This Will End

When the war ends, Will doesn’t know if he remembers how to return. Doesn’t know if he can walk the same path home to his sister, his nieces, his mother. Tom takes him by the hands and drags him to the first transport home. Will waits, waits for him to leave and push Will on his way home while he disappears to see his mother, his brother. 

Waits for him to leave as he should, to walk away from the broken remnants of one who isn’t sure how to return from a way he no never truly understood.

Only he doesn’t let go. 

He leads him down unfamiliar streets between houses and past buildings all the while chattering away. Telling stories of a childhood not long past that Will can’t even begin to imagine. A childhood that should never have been tainted as it was by war. 

Tom is not a child. Hadn’t been even when he’d entered the war. Even when he’d been a Private newly minted and sent to the eighth. But he never should have needed to.

And even now, even when Will says nothing to encourage him he doesn’t let go. He leads him to a small but respectable house, an orchard sprawling behind it and a woman standing on the front port, another man standing on the steps that Will recognizes. 

Just like Tom, a little older. 

Joseph Blake turning to face them with a wide smile, one hand raised ever so slightly to wave. Tears filling the woman's eyes as she turned, as she looked at her second son returned from war. 

And Will knows he’s intruding. That he should slip away while Tom’s distracted with his family, but he can’t. Can’t slip away when Tom’s hand never leaves his and he finds in the end that he doesn’t want to. 

Not when Mrs. Blake pulls him into a tight hug beside her son, and Joseph Blake claps a hand on their shoulders as if he’s meant to be there. As if he’s more than an unwanted intruder, more than the wraith he feels he is. Another ghost left behind by the war, trailing in Blake’s shadow. 

Mrs. Blake guides all four of them inside with a gentle smile, settles them in the living room with a gentle touch and the promise of tea. Tom never let’s go. He takes Will’s hand in both of his for a moment as they settle side by side on the small sofa, Joe in one of two chairs. 

Will should pull away, should tell them he has somewhere to be. His mother will want him home, his sister will wish to see him. Except he doesn’t want to. Not when Tom smiles at him like he always does, just a touch wider than the smiles he gives others. Not when Tom holds his hand in his and he finds he never wants to let go. 

Instead he lets the younger soldier, the younger man, lean into his side as they had in the trenches. When it was cold and wet and mud was everywhere and no matter what you did you couldn’t escape it. 

It isn’t cold here, no the hearth is lit and the house is warm and dry, but Will doesn’t consider pushing him away as he knows he should. Doesn’t consider it even when Mrs. Blake walks into the room, a tray in her hands, and stalls for half a second. 

Only she doesn’t say anything, she watches them for a moment longer as she sets the tray down before them, as she takes her seat in the last chair. And she smiles, softer, gentler than anything Will has seen in months. 

Beside him Tom doesn’t even seem to notice, so engrossed in the tale he’s telling Joe. And Will finds he doesn’t mind as he watches the other talk. His free hand waving as it always does during his stories. His eyes alight in a way Will had begun to fear he’d lose as the war dragged on. As the trenches sucked any innocent kindness from them. 

He should have known Tom was more resilient than that. That the boy who saw his silent grief and spoke to him anyways wouldn’t be deterred. 

When the time comes that Will truly should be leaving- he can not remain here after all, no matter how much he wishes he could- Tom takes him by the hands once more. Or more accurately he pulls lightly at their still interlocked hands. Tightens his grip around Will’s hand for only a moment as he offers one of his bright smiles, and pulls Will to his feet. Leads him out and into the shadows of the cherry trees that stand tall behind his house. 

A loud bark greets them, a dog bounding towards them as Tom laughs and Will, Will finds himself entranced. Watching as Tom stands beneath the cherry trees, the sun dipping below the ridge-line just past them as he turns. 

He should consider it more closely, should think of the consequences as he reaches with his free hand. As Tom turns to meet his eyes, blossoms brushing against his shoulder, catching in his hair. 

And Will forgets, forgets all of the caution he’s ever learned as Tom smiles back at him. Lifts their intertwined hands and Will can’t stop himself. Pressing their foreheads together as his hand cradles the others cheek and Tom’s smile never wavers. 

If anything it gets wider as the dog reaches them, Myrtle that was her name, bouncing against Tom’s side. 

It’s Tom that makes the first move. Just as it always is, just as Will feels it always should be. And it is everything he has always wanted. 

When they break apart Will’s lips tingle and he wants nothing more than to lean in again as Tom looks back at him. The sun dying behind him painting him in gold, a halo around his head and cherry blossoms in his hair. 

Will had never believed in much of anything. Not redemption or anything of the sort. No, and even now he had never done anything to deserve it. 

But for a moment, Tom isn’t just another man, another soldier. He glows like a future Will doesn’t deserve. 

And before him, beneath the cherry trees and lit by the suns rays, Will thinks that this is more than just love. More than just the desperation he remembers from the trenches. More than those fairy tales of redemption. 

No, this is salvation.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

> Writing more one shots of the boys being hopelessly in love? Maybe, also I really like the cherry blossom imagery if no one has noticed... 
> 
> This is yet again about 1000 words of the boys being sweet and completely totally in love.
> 
> LOOK AT THE WONDERFUL ART THAT nightcalling MADE FOR ME!!!!


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